THE UK will be battered by “heavy and thundery” showers over the weekend as an Atlantic low pressure system churns in from the west, the BBC has warned.

While Friday will be a predominantly warm and fine day across the country, this will change for parts of the nation on Saturday and Sunday as high pressure is replaced by a low pressure system. On top of this, the precarious Whaley Bridge dam is on the brink of collapse as the Environment Agency issued a “severe flood warning” - and more showers could be on their way to the area today. BBC meteorologist Tomasz Schafernaker explained: “The weather’s looking mostly good across the UK on Friday.

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“There are some showers in the forecast and it is possible that we could get the odd downfall in the vicinity of the reservoir in Derbyshire where the Environment Agency still has a severe flood warning in force.

“At the moment, we’re in-between weather systems.

“There’s cloud to the east, west and south.

“An Atlantic weather front will approach us come Saturday but before that the weather’s relatively quiet.

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He added: "It will drop one-ton bags of aggregate - a mixture of sand, gravel and stone - into Todd Brook.

"This is intended to stem the flow of water into the reservoir."

Videos shared by Shirebrook Fire Station showed the Chinook laden with the aggregate as it flew above the area and hovered above the dam wall.

Derbyshire Police said late on Thursday that 400 tonnes of aggregate would be brought by the RAF as part of a multi-agency task force.

Speaking on Thursday evening, Deputy Chief Constable Rachel Swann, chairwoman of the Local Resilience Forum, said: "At this time the future of the dam wall remains in the balance and I would remind people of the very real danger posed to them should the wall collapse."

Firefighters deployed from across the country used at least 10 high volume pumps to reduce water to a safe level before work will begin to repair the dam wall.

Many people were told to leave their homes and directed to an evacuation point at a school in Chapel-en-le-Frith.